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Tuesday, September 26, 2017

If you’ve been downtown lately you’ve probably noticed dirt being moved at the corner of Broadway and Memorial Drive, where Saving Center used to be. That’s the site of The Broadway, which we’ve reported on before.

Two permit applications for the project were filed Sept. 21 with the Idaho Falls Building Department. The applicant on both was Rory Heggie Architecture of Boise. The was for the retail building, job value estimated at $1.44 million. The second was for a 32,670-square-foot mixed use building, job value estimate at $4,085,000.

Overall, the development will consist of a 9,600-square-foot single story retail building and a three-story mixed-used building incorporating retail, restaurant and office space, with residential condominiums on the third story. Spaces are divisible up to 1,200 square feet. Between the two buildings there will be a plaza for food, music and entertainment.

The property was bought in 2015 by the Idaho Falls Redevelopment Agency, which had conducted a study analyzing demand for downtown housing. The report that followed estimated a demand for housing units between 455 to 502 units. The board also approved the purchase of an option on the Bonneville Hotel at Constitution Way and Park Avenue.

In February 2016, the Oppenheimer Development Corp. responded to the IFRA’s request for proposals on the .95-acre property.

Bank of Idaho, Parsons, Beahle & Latimer, Smokin Fins (a Colorado-based seafood restaurant chain), and Lucy’s Pizzeria have been listed as prospective tenants. Leasing arrangements are being handled by Thornton Oliver Keller. For more information, follow this link: The Broadway.

Friday, September 22, 2017

A team of researchers in the U.S. and Europe is poised to globally integrate electrical grids in a way that resonates with the creation of the internet more than 50 years ago.

The group convenes at Idaho National Laboratory Tuesday, Sept. 26, for a live demonstration of the Real-Time Super Lab (RT Super Lab) concept, which will study how electricity can be rerouted across vast distances to address disruptions. The team envisions that large-scale blackouts can be prevented by moving electricity intercontinentally, the same way utilities currently do regionally but at a much larger scale. Such global interaction can prepare America for next-generation power system challenges, reduce the cost of outages and make electrical power grids of the future more resilient.

The effort builds on work done between the U.S. Department of Energy’s INL and National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories and five universities, two of them in Europe, have joined INL to explore the idea that electrons can be sent around the world the same way as digital packets of zeros and ones over the internet.

“This is more than computers talking to each other,” said Rob Hovsapian, INL’s Power and Energy Systems department manager. “We are developing capabilities for geographically distributed real-time grid simulation with shared assets at INL, other national labs, universities and utilities.”

In 2015, INL and NREL successfully demonstrated the capability to connect grid simulations at their two labs for real-time interaction over the internet. Both INL’s Power and Energy Real-Time Laboratory and NREL's Energy Systems Integration Facility have the capability to merge computer-based simulations of the power grid with actual hardware such as wind turbines, solar inverters, batteries and electric vehicles — a capability called "power hardware in the loop."

The two national laboratories were able to connect their Digital Real-Time Simulators and achieve grid simulation such that the hardware or software at one lab could directly interact with hardware or software at the other lab.

Leveraging assets and expertise at other national labs and academic institutions, the RT Super Lab concept brings more assets into the mix, with the following participants contributing specific capabilities:

University of South Carolina College of Engineering and Computing’s Integrated Grids Laboratory

RWTH Aachen University’s co-simulation framework

Polytechnic University of Turin’s high-performance computer-based Energy Management System

NREL's Energy Systems Integration Facility

INL’s Power and Energy Real-Time Laboratory

"Joint collaboration via a Ph.D. researcher exchange between RWTH and INL was a key factor in creating scientific tools and techniques featured in this demonstration," said Manish Mohanpurkar, INL’s Power and Energy Systems group lead. “INL and NREL research also made the project possible by addressing data latency issues and improving available bandwidth.”

The Wide Area Network demonstrations that took place between INL and NREL showed that most data packets took less than 17 milliseconds to travel from point to point. To mitigate data latency issues (like those that create cellphone echoes and delays), researchers used advanced methods from the fields of signal processing, filtering theory and data compression.

Along with rapid strides in interconnecting grid laboratories globally, another active research approach will enable additional significant measurements to be exchanged between two connected real-time simulators. The preliminary results are promising and the method will be utilized for geographically distributed real-time simulations connecting laboratories all across the world.

Power systems around the world are undergoing fundamental transitions to achieve long-term sustainability, reliability and affordability. The RT-Super Lab allows simulation of large-scale systems, simultaneous development across different domains and a flexible collaboration that preserves the confidential details of individual groups.

The ability to move electricity around the globe rather than only within isolated networks holds the possibility of vast savings on infrastructure and energy consumption.

Wednesday, September 20, 2017

The interior of a Planet Fitness gym somewhere in America. (Photo: Planet Fitness)

It looks like Apple Athletic Club owner Steve Vucovic could be expanding his fitness empire in Idaho Falls this fall. Vucovic and a partner, Keith Larsen, applied Aug. 30 to the city of Idaho Falls Building Department for a building permit for a 240,000-square-foot remodeling job at 200 South Woodruff Avenue, for a Planet Fitness Health Club. Vucovic said last week they were still negotiating a lease, but the building permit was issued Tuesday.

North of Smith’s, the space has been empty since Curtiss-Wright Flow Control Scientech relocated its offices to Snake River Landing in 2014.

With more than 1,400 clubs in the United States, Planet Fitness is one of the largest fitness club franchises. Based in Hampton, N.H., the company dates back to 1992. It opened its first franchised location in Florida in 2013, and in February 2016, the franchise was added to the Franchise Times "Fast and Serious" list of top franchises (No. 1). That same year, Forbes magazine ranked Planet Fitness No. 4, and the company ranked in the top 50 of the Entrepreneur magazine Franchise 500 in 2017.

The club's two membership levels are $10 and $19.99 per month: the $10 per month level includes access to cardio and strength equipment, unlimited group fitness instruction and pizza and bagels once a month; the $19.99 per month (“Black Card”) level allows members to bring one guest per day at no charge, access to all Planet Fitness locations, and access to extra amenities, such as tanning booths and massage chairs.

The company advertises "no judgment,” with "judgment free zone," signs plastered across its gyms and signs on the equipment reminding members that they "belong." Planet Fitness famously serves free pizza on the first Monday of the month and bagels on the second Tuesday of the month.

The target demographic is people who are just getting used to working out or people who really, really hate exercising. There are no classes, just two circuits, a 30-minute full-body circuit and a 12-minute ab circuit.

Friday, September 15, 2017

Idaho National Laboratory had seven projects included on a list released Thursday by the U.S. Department of Energy.

Energy Secretary Rick Perry announced $19.7 million in Technology Commercialization Fund (TCF) projects, aimed at helping businesses move promising energy technologies from DOE’s national laboratories to the marketplace. This second department-wide round of funding through the Office of Technology Transition was in support of 54 projects across 12 national laboratories involving more than 30 private-sector partners.

The TCF works to expand the commercial impact of DOE’s portfolio of research, development,
demonstration, and deployment activities in two topic areas: Projects for which additional technology
maturation is needed to attract a private partner, and cooperative development projects between labs
and industry partners designed to bolster the commercial application of a lab developed technology.

The seven selections that involved Idaho National Laboratory included:

DOE’s national labs have supported critical research and development that has led to many technologies in the marketplace today, including the batteries powering electric vehicles, the foundation of Internet servers, and the optical digital recording technology behind DVDs.

“Accelerating the transition of energy technologies from the laboratory bench to the marketplace is an
important component of increasing America’s economic prosperity and energy security,” Perry said.
“This second round of TCF projects highlight the incredible value of DOE’s National Laboratories and the importance of bringing the Department’s technology transfer mission to the American people.”

Tuesday, September 12, 2017

Taste of Downtown will be held Friday from 4 to 8 p.m. on the 300 block of Park Avenue, featuring ten local downtown restaurants, bars, and pubs. Arguably, Idaho Falls’ single-best food and beverage event, this is the fourth year for Taste of Downtown.

There will be live music provided by Liar & Dan. Guests can watch how different chefs, employees and owners bring everything together and enjoy food right on the spot, said Catherine Smith, executive director of the Idaho Falls Downtown Development Corporation. “This event isn’t just entertaining and delicious, it also gives everyone a greater appreciation for our local cuisine and entrepreneurship right here in our own downtown,” she said.

Taste of Downtown tickets will be available at the event. Tickets are $1 each. Participating restaurants include: City Bagels & Bakery, BlackRock, A Street Soup Market, Villa Coffeehouse, SnakeBite, Pachangas, The Celt, Persnickety Lemon Deli, Diabala’s Kitchen, and Grandpa’s Southern BBQ. Each restaurant will set their “taste” amount, or ticket amount, for a variety of dishes available at each booth. Proceeds from this event go to the local nonprofit, CASA-Court Appointed Special Advocates.

Monday, September 11, 2017

An aerial view of the Modern Home store in Ammon, taken in late August.

Here’s a little more information on the Modern Home store being built in Ammon, on Eagle Drive near Kohl’s.

“It’s a pretty new development for us,” said Alan Sparks, the owner. “It started in idea form in the fall of 2016. My wife and I discovered Idaho Falls after a vacation and dropping our oldest son off at BYU-I. It was funny how fast we fell in love with the area and how we couldn’t get it out of our mind.”

Sparks has run two furniture stores in Arizona: Sparks Homestore in Thatcher Home Furnishings Direct in Cottonwood. “We have a great management team in place that are doing a great job running our Arizona stores,” Sparks said. “Being in the furniture business and still working for a living, we knew the only way to be able to move here was to open a new store in Idaho Falls. In June of this year that dream came true and boy do we love it!”

The name Modern Home represents a commitment they’ve made to keeping their inventory up to date, in style and current, “a place you can go to get inspired and find great deals as well,” he said. The store will open the first part of November, with hiring to begin in the first part of October.

Thursday, September 7, 2017

We’ve had a few readers ask about the building going up in Ammon on Eagle Drive near Hillcrest High School and Kohl’s. While I haven’t had the time to visit the friendly people in the city of Ammon building department to look at the actual plans, I have learned that it will be a new mattress and furniture store called Modern Home.

For a look at the Facebook page, here’s the link: https://www.facebook.com/modernhomeidaho/. There are 537 likes as I look at it right now. Let’s see where that number is at the end of the day, once BizMojo has written them up, ha ha!

According to the information there, they will be hiring in October. As soon as I hear back from Alan Sparks, the person on the Facebook page who appears to be answering all the questions, I will have a more detailed report.

Wednesday, September 6, 2017

REDI, eastern Idaho’s economic development organization, has named Dana Kirkham to be its Science Technology and Research (STAR) director. Currently serving as Mayor of Ammon, Kirkham will start part-time with REDI on Monday and take on full-time duties when she leaves office at the end of the year.

Jan Rogers, REDI’s CEO, cited Kirkham’s experience in local government, her background with the federal government, CIA and State Department, and her strong legislative experience. “Dana will bring impressive skills to support STAR efforts throughout the region,” she said.

REDI advertised in mid-July that it was creating a position for a person to focus on the region’s science, technology and research sector, on track to reach nearly $4.5 billion in capital investment. Support from Battelle Energy Alliance, the company running Idaho National Laboratory, and Fluor Idaho, the company in charge of cleanup work, and other high-tech industry partners made the position possible.

“Whether it is building our first-of-kind small modular reactor, expanding our work in cyber security, or strengthening our supplier and subcontract environment, the timing is right to find a STAR Director to advocate and champion our region both regionally and nationally,” INL Director Mark Peters said.

Kirkham said she will be focusing specifically on federal programs across the region. “Managing and expanding these key sectors will benefit the whole region by creating more STAR related opportunities,” she said.